Chapter 3
Lucario and Incineroar, back at the Smash Mansion, entered the training room. Much to Incineroar's surprise, the "training room" wasn't much of a room at all; it was a small room with a white glowing circle in the middle of the floor.
"This is the training room?!"
"Of course not," Lucario explained. "The circle, when stepped on, teleports you to the Battlefield, the arena that we train on. Now, before we go, a few things."
"Alright."
"Now, the objective is to launch your opponent out of the blast zone. There'll be a red light that'll signify the zone. If you get knocked out of the zone, you'll lose a stock, or a life. We'll be sparring for one stock."
"One stock. Got it."
"Great. Let's go."
The two stepped on the circle. The glowing circle glowed brighter, engulfing the two Pokémon. When Incineroar's eyes adjusted to the light, he now found himself on a stage with three platforms above him; one to his left, one to his right and one above the two in the center. Incineroar looked at the area in the back and found himself staring at a lovely blue sky.
"What is this place?"
"It's called 'Battlefield'. It's one of the most rudimentary stages we fight on in the tournament. Just jump up on one of the platforms and we can begin."
Incineroar jumped on the left platform and Lucario jumped up on the right one. The two stared each other down. Suddenly a voice boomed:
"3...2...1...GO!"
Incineroar nodded and got down to business. He leaped towards the platform Lucario was on, launching a dropkick at him. Lucario rolled to the left, nimbly dodging the kick and jumped onto the highest platform. Incineroar jumped up to follow him, but stopped when Lucario launched a blue sphere of energy out of his palms, forcing the Heel Pokémon to change the direction of his jump to the bottom of the stage to avoid taking damage.
"Have you on the ropes already, champ?" Lucario joked.
"Dude, your more of a challenge than the last eight challenges to my title were combined."
"You flatter me. Here, I'll meet you down there."
Lucario jumped down to the floor. Incineroar was waiting for him, striking him with two claw swipes and a boot as soon as the Aura Pokémon's feet touched the floor. The boot sent Lucario tumbling, but he landed on his feet. Incineroar dashed towards his opponent, but was Lucario was quick to sidestep his attack. As soon as the fiery cat turned around, he was met with two jabs. Right as Incineroar recovered, he was grabbed and was struck in the chest with a palm strike. The strike sent Incineroar off the stage, but he was able to quickly grab the edge off of the stage with his right arm and pull himself up.
Lucario ran at his opponent but was quickly met with a spinning lariat, knocking him towards the center of the stage. Incineroar was feeling pumped now. He grabbed his opponent and threw him to the side when suddenly a line of fire launched from his belt, forming a set of ring ropes. Though quite confused, he instinctively back body dropped Lucario, sending him flying onto the highest platform.
"What the hell just happened?!"
Lucario shrugged. "In these arenas, weird things can happen to you. Wait 'till you see what happens when you get a Final Smash."
"A what?"
"I'll tell you about it later,"
Lucario jumped back onto the floor. Incineroar launched a punch just as Lucario shifted his body back and forth. Suddenly, the jackal disappeared in the blink of an eye. Before Incineroar could wonder where Lucario went, Lucario reappeared from outta nowhere and connected with a flying kick to the chin, sending his opponent flying off the stage. But like last time, he grabbed the ledge and pulled himself back up.
"Got ya," Lucario laughed.
"Grr, you tricky little-"
Incineroar ran towards Lucario. Expecting another attack, Lucario went for another Double Team maneuver. However, Incineroar, learning from his mistake, pulled his fist back, preventing Lucario from hitting the attack again. As soon as he was done, Lucario was grabbed by the throat and was spiked to the ground with a chokeslam. As soon as Lucario's back bounced off the ground, Incineroar spun him around, grabbed his waist and connected with a German suplex, sending Lucario up near the blast zone. However, Lucario recovered, angled himself towards the ground and dashed to the floor in front of his opponent. As he landed, Incineroar noticed that blue energy was just about spilling from Lucario's palms.
"Very powerful, my friend," Lucario said. "But you need to learn the old saying."
"What?"
"What doesn't kill you-"
The Aura Pokémon suddenly shot a huge sphere of energy at his opponent. Shocked, Incineroar barely reacted in time and leaped up onto the highest platform. Before he could even think about a new strategy, Lucario suddenly zipped up onto the platform in the blink of an eye.
"-makes you stronger."
Lucario speedily grabbed Incineroar by the throat and struck him with an explosive Force Palm. While the first one was pretty powerful, this one was exponentially stronger, knocking Incineroar out of the upper blast zone.
Incineroar now found himself back at the training room. He rolled off the circle right before Lucario teleported into the room with a victorious look on his face. He grabbed Incineroar's paw and helped him to his feet.
"Good game," Lucario said, extending his paw.
Incineroar looked at his paw for a moment before shaking his paw. "You too. That was my first loss in about a year."
"A year?"
"Yep. The challengers to my title mostly sucked. Anyway, I gotta say: I wanted competition and I got it from you. Thanks a lot."
"No problem, man. If you do what you did to me to Jigglypuff tomorrow, you'll definitely win."
"Thanks. Wanna go eat dinner now?"
"Sure."
As the two headed down to the mess hall, Incineroar asked, "So, who's your opponent?"
"His name's Luigi. Remind me to introduce him to you; he's a nice guy."
(Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you wouldn't mind, could you perhaps leave a review rating my writing so that I could improve upon it, especially the fight scenes. Anyway, look out for the first round match between Incineroar & Jigglypuff; it's coming very soon! Cheers!)
